Chapter 93

When the Qianren Sect was wiped out, Liu Shuang had vaguely sensed something.

Now, seeing Yan Chaosheng truly alive again, even though tension crackled between them like drawn swords, she still felt a bit of happiness in her heart.

Three years ago, Yan Chaosheng had died too tragically.

She never intended to kill him, but the truth was, it was her fault he died.

Under the Fuxi Seal, Yan Chaosheng’s soul was completely scattered.

The only thing left behind was the wedding dress he had prepared for her.

Back then, when she saw that dress, tears unknowingly welled up in her eyes.

Hate, like love, fades over time.

Liu Shuang suddenly realized that the boy who clutched the hem of her dress even as he was dying had borne a hatred he never should have had to carry.

He had never hurt her.

From the beginning, he had liked her.

For the past three years, Liu Shuang had trained diligently, helped the scattered demon clans, and even lit a Soul Lantern for Yan Chaosheng using her Huiling power.

Now that she truly saw him standing before her, everything still felt a bit unreal.

As if in the next moment, he would turn back into that figure from her dreams—vomiting blood and vanishing before her eyes.

She wanted to reach out and grab him, but could only watch helplessly as his soul dispersed.

Liu Shuang looked toward the glazed lamp, at Yan Chaosheng watching her coldly beneath it.

She blinked, only now belatedly realizing that her current situation was not good.

She had been wounded by Feng Fuming, and the injury hadn’t been treated. Her dress was soaked in blood.

And the man in front of her—he hadn’t brought her here so she could recover.

She moved her wrist slightly.

The chain around it was thin, but faint silver light flickered along it.

Yan Chaosheng had just said that this was a Soul-Locking Contract.

In his eyes, she had deliberately lured him to Kongsang and trapped him to kill him.

He must hate her deeply.

Liu Shuang hoarsely asked, “What are you going to do? Kill me for revenge?”

He gave a strange laugh at that.

Cold and chilling—it made her skin crawl.

“To kill you? Liu Shuang, you’re thinking far too simply. If you died just like that, who would repay me for three years of suffering?”

That answer didn’t surprise Liu Shuang.

Yet under the dim light, the large shadow the man cast still made her uneasy.

If she were still that little immortal grass from her youth, she might have cried from fright at his tone, imagining all kinds of cruel tortures Yan Chaosheng might inflict on her.

Fortunately, she had experienced so much over the years, even survived tribulation thunder.

What was there to fear now? At most, pain.

Perhaps Yan Chaosheng saw through her thoughts.

He sneered twice and yanked her down from the bed.

Liu Shuang gave a muffled grunt, he had pulled on her wound.

Yan Chaosheng paused for a moment, then glanced coldly over his shoulder.

She knew her place as a prisoner and obediently followed his steps.

The chain binding her seemed to possess some spiritual awareness, slithering along with their footsteps.

Yan Chaosheng eventually brought her to the entrance of a dark palace.

From within came shrill screams of torture, she could hear them clearly even from the doorway.

“See this? This is where you’ll be staying from now on,” Yan Chaosheng said darkly.

“The Twelve Halls of Torment in the Ghost Realm, I’m sure a strong-willed immortal maiden like yourself won’t end up as a puddle of blood like the others. Surely you’ll make it out alive.”

It was Liu Shuang’s first time seeing the Twelve Halls of the Ghost Realm.

She didn’t expect them to still exist, later, they were abolished by Yan Chaosheng himself, who became the Demon Lord.

Blades, boiling oil, bone-splitting, flesh-peeling… each punishment more brutal than the last, all designed for ferocious spirits.

Her face turned pale.

“Scared?” Yan Chaosheng’s tone was laced with mockery.

“If you beg me, perhaps I’ll show mercy for old times’ sake and not throw you in.”

Liu Shuang lowered her head.

She wasn’t afraid.

It was just the first time she truly recognized that the boy who had loved her so deeply was someone she had killed with her own hands.

When she didn’t respond, he seemed to grow angry and yanked her over.

Their eyes met, and for a brief moment, something flickered in his cold expression.

Caught off guard, Liu Shuang saw her reflection in his eyes.

Her hair was a mess, her lips pale, a fine, crisscrossing wound on her cheek.

She looked utterly wretched.

Since becoming the young miss of Kongsang, she had never been in such a sorry state.

Before she could read more into that fleeting flash of heartache in his gaze—

His eyes dimmed again, and he spat: “You stink.”

For once, Liu Shuang was a little embarrassed.

She pursed her lips and tried to pry his hand away.

She could accept whatever torture he planned just, could he not drag her around like a chick?

Besides, she wasn’t the one who wanted to be this close.

Yan Chaosheng was the one who brought her near, then spoke so venomously.

But now, Yan Chaosheng who hated her enough to want her dead, clearly wasn’t about to care about her dignity.

In the blink of an eye, the dark mist around them dissipated.

Yan Chaosheng had taken her to the cold pool in the forbidden place of the Ghost Realm.

No one knew what the water was made of, at a glance it glowed an eerie blue, tinged with a terrifying light.

Before she could say a word, Yan Chaosheng tossed her in.

Cold.

So cold.

Without her spiritual energy to protect her, Liu Shuang was thrown straight into the freezing pool.

Even the tips of her hair felt like they were icing over.

She didn’t know what kind of water this was but it sent violent shivers down her spine.

Liushuang gritted her teeth and made to climb ashore.

But she saw that man sitting by the bank, looking at her with a cold and mocking gaze.

“Wash yourself clean before coming up.”

Behind him hung a blood-red moon, making his entire figure look unbearably hateful.

She naturally ignored him, but just as her hand touched the bank, he pushed her back into the water.

“Did you not hear what I said?”

She had thought that after three years of cultivation, she had trained her heart to be still like water and could calmly face the vengeance of the young demon lord.

Yet at this moment, a flood of unspoken, inexpressible grievances surged up.

Her hand was cruelly slapped back by the man.

Liu Shuang raised her head and looked at the person before her.

Three years ago, he had whispered beside her ear that he would treat her well for the rest of his life.

But that promise had vanished like smoke.

Now he seemed to wish he could kill her without delay.

Her body was so cold it was nearly frozen, yet her eyes were sore with tears.

He still looked at her coldly, unmoved.

The next moment, Liu Shuang could no longer hold on and fainted in the icy pool.

She was freezing to the bone and naturally didn’t notice the blue mist rising within the cold pool, sealing the wounds inflicted by the Xuanyuan Sword.

A divine weapon doesn’t leave ordinary injuries.

The Xuanyuan Sword, a blazing yang artifact, inflicted wounds that few knew could only be healed by this very pool—the tiny, frigid Ghostcry Spring.

But to heal such wounds, one had to suffer in turn.

Once her wounds had mostly recovered, Yan Chaosheng descended into the cold pool himself and carried her out.

In the Ghostcry Spring, the yin energy was overwhelmingly strong.

As Yan Chaosheng held her in his arms and saw the grievance unconsciously written on her face, he couldn’t help but find it a little amusing.

If she didn’t still harbor hope for the young demon lord, she wouldn’t react this way.

His heart softened, though his expression remained cold, still feigning hatred as deep as the sea.

He carried her all the way back to the palace.

The little ghosts who witnessed this scene gossiped the next day, saying the demon lord tormented the immortal maiden he had brought back so severely that she fainted right there on the spot.

Back in the palace, Liu huang’s body was still icy cold.

Yan Chaosheng ordered, “Bring the Fire Yang Cauldron.”

The ghost general hesitated timidly.

“But your body…”

“It’s fine.”

Before long, the Fire Yang Cauldron was brought.

This artifact was originally used for refining, and could also dispel ghostly energy.

Now, it was being used to warm Liu Shuang.

Yan Chaosheng practiced ghost cultivation.

The cauldron’s heat harmed him greatly, which was why the ghost general had hesitated.

As the temperature in the hall rose, Liu Shuang’s shivering body gradually warmed, and not long after, she fell asleep, her little face flushing red.

Yan Chaosheng chuckled and, ignoring the ghostly energy seeping from himself, mercilessly pinched her soft cheeks before putting out the Fire Yang Cauldron.

Liu Shuang woke up the next day.

Yan Chaosheng was already gone.

Only a few young maidservants remained, gossiping away.

Their feet didn’t touch the ground, clearly ghosts.

She was reminded of Changhuan, of how she once dressed up as a mortal and mimicked their way of walking just because she was afraid of ghosts.

Liu Shuang sat up and scanned their faces.

After everything she had been through, she no longer feared these beings but Changhuan was nowhere to be found.

She wanted to see if she was among them.

But to her disappointment, all the ghost maids were unfamiliar faces.

Changhuan wasn’t there.

They chattered on, praising how heroic the demon lord was now, how he was unifying the scattered and chaotic ghost realm.

Liu Shuang was shackled, her mind in disarray—thinking one moment of Shaoyou, whose life or death was unknown, and the next of the merciless Yan Chaosheng from the night before.

She looked down and saw her clothes had been changed into new robes.

The material was plain, likely gathered from the human realm.

But her wounds hurt much less than they had the day before.

The ghost maids soon turned their gossip to her, paying no mind to the fact that the subject of their talk was present.

“They say this immortal is the young miss of Kongsang.”

“Why would an immortal from the Kongsang Immortal Realm be locked up here in our ghost domain?”

“Don’t you know? She’s the wicked woman who once tried to kill our demon lord.”

“So it’s her! Everyone knows now that the demon lord hates her so much he wishes he could flay her and drink her blood. Who knows how much longer she’ll live?”

They chatted away happily, speculating how the demon lord might torment her in the future.

But Liu Shuang suddenly sensed something was wrong—her body was heating up, her spiritual marrow burning, her whole being wrapped in warmth.

This… this was the sign of an impending breakthrough!

She was struck as if by lightning.

At a time like this, she was about to break through a major cultivation realm?! And that meant… a heavenly tribulation! Why did it have to happen here, of all places, beside Yan Chaosheng?!

She was locked up and unable to use her spiritual energy.

She had no means to defend against the Thunder tribulation.

Liu Shuang felt like everything was falling apart.

Though her cultivation had improved rapidly these past few years, she had never reached the verge of a major breakthrough.

And now, of all times,it was happening.

For immortals, preparing for tribulations was a serious matter.

It could take centuries or even a millennium to reach such a stage, and all sorts of protective artifacts were prepared in advance with extreme care.

Any mistake could mean death under the thunder strikes or worse, like what happened to Shaoyou’s father, who was left with lasting damage.

His cultivation had stagnated ever since, and even his lifespan had been affected.

The moment of tribulation could only be sensed by the cultivator themselves.

Liu Shuang checked again, unwilling to believe it, but her suspicions were confirmed.

It was indeed happening—bad luck upon bad luck, and the tribulation was now upon her.

She took a deep breath.

The surging energy made her more and more uneasy.

If she did nothing, she would be struck to ashes right there.

So she had no choice but to interrupt the ghost maids and ask with difficulty, “Where is the demon lord?”

One replied, “The demon lord is busy, of course.”

“Could you please pass on a message? I request an audience.”

“Hmph, you’re a prisoner. Do you think the demon lord is someone you can just meet whenever you wish?”

“Please,” Liu Shuang said, “It’s really very important.”

She didn’t hold out much hope.

Even if Yan Chaosheng knew she was about to face a tribulation, he might not release her.

He might even enjoy watching from the side as she was struck down.